


strings that tie to you

by prettierodds



Category: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Genre: Character Study, Clem is.... a lot, F/M, Post Movie, Relationship Study, ambiguous ending, joel is bad at communicating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23089540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettierodds/pseuds/prettierodds
Summary: Clem is energy that Joel is not. Clem is the feeling of flying down an empty road with your head out the window on a cloudless day; Clem is the feeling of a first kiss and the first brush of hands over and over again. But there’s two sides to every coin, and not all energy is something to revel in.
Relationships: Joel Barish/Clementine Kruczynski
Kudos: 5





	strings that tie to you

_ “Whatcha drawing?” _

_ Joel is used to it by now, the sudden presence over his shoulder in the middle of his work day, the insatiable curiosity and need to annoy Joel into stepping away from his work. Joel is used to Clementine by now; he still loves her all the same.  _

_ “Nothing,” Joel snaps the cover shut. “Just a little sketch. You know.”  _

_ Clementine raises her eyebrows and purses her lips, ‘hm, right’ the expression says. She’s humoring him, and he’s grateful. Truth be told, the drawing is, as always, of her. Nothing fancy--he had been telling the truth on that part. Just a little sketch. But still. Joel was a private person by nature, so was it really a big deal? _

_ He realizes Clementine is still looking at him.  _

_ “Do you want to go get some coffee? I don’t think I’m going to get much work done here anyway.” He asks with a half smile. It’s a thinly veiled “you’re distracting me and I can tell you just want attention”, but if Clem realizes it she doesn’t react.  _

_ She smiles back widely. “Sure, Joel. Coffee sounds nice.” _

_ Nice is an obvious jab. (He remembers their second first meeting on the train to Montauk as well as he remembers his own address.) _

_ They look at (and then awkwardly away from) each other for a moment, Joel wrestling with his mind like he has been for the past few weeks. Clem isn’t perfect; no relationship is perfect, isn’t that kind of the point? But lately he just . . . Hasn’t  _ seen _ the point. The point to all the passive aggressive jabs and criticisms that lead to arguments over the sound of the radio in the car as they go through the motions of a real date. Is there a point to listening to her rant about an annoying coworker when he knows that in two minutes her mind will have raced elsewhere, away from him, away from them? _

_ Their eyes meet for a second before Clem bounces away, all smiles, to go get her coat and then Joel remembers all at once.  _

_ Clementine is energy. _

_ Clem is energy that Joel is not, Clem is the feeling of flying down an empty road with your head out the window on a cloudless day; Clem is the feeling of a first kiss and the first brush of hands over and over again. But there’s two sides to every coin, and not all energy is something to revel in; Clementine is also a storm. All lightning and crackling thunder, a tornado of fury and passion that leaves chaos spinning in her wake. Although what’s the saying, at the end of every storm is a rainbow? Flowers can’t grow without rain? Whatever the fuck. Joel hates to be cliche (which is ironic, since he’s well aware he himself is more cliche than most people) but he would go so far as to say that Clem has changed who he is as a person in a matter of months. He’s done more, seen more, experienced more with her than he has in his entire life.  _

_ And yet _

_ He thinks he shouldn’t be so conflicted.  _

_ Joel is in love with Clementine, and Clementine is, at least, currently infatuated with Joel. But the more he thinks about it, the longer he watches her fix her colorful hair in the mirror and adjust the layered necklaces over her coat, the more temporary it seems.  _

_ Clementine, for all the reasons Joel fell hard and fast for her, is not the kind of girl you daydream about a family with. Clem is not a future. _

_ And Joel knows all of this, in his head of course he knows all of this because it’s all he’s been able to fucking think about lately. Joel is rational and predictable and boring. Clementine is not a future. But for Joel, right now at this point in history, she’s a spectacular present _

**Author's Note:**

> I love this movie with my whole heart and I think the relationship between these two is painfully realistic, but here’s an idea of post movie Clem and Joel 
> 
> The title is from a song from the soundtrack


End file.
